On Friday, Saint Lucia hosted a sod-turning ceremony for a $143 million Halls of Justice project.
The Halls of Justice will stand four storeys high and occupy two lots on Laborie Street, Castries.
 The old courthouse site will be the new home of the Civil and Family Division, and the former site of the Ministry of Education will house the Criminal Division.
An overhead bridge will connect both buildings.
The complex will have fourteen courtrooms, six magistrate chambers, and nine judges’ chambers.
It will also accommodate eleven witness rooms, ten administrative offices, a law library, a police post, holding cells, and a high-security defendant dock.Â
Construction will take two years.
“Today, our courts are scattered around the City,” Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre told the sod-turning ceremony.
He explained that the current court buildings, which are not ‘fit for purpose’ are generally rented from private landlords.
Pierre noted that law courts are highly specialized structures requiring secure parking areas for judges and staff, secure areas for prisoners, and separate areas for judges, staff, the public, and prisoners.
He said the buildings must be welcoming but secure, with separate areas for family matters.
“This building will deliver all of this,” the Saint Lucia Prime Minister said regarding the Halls of Justice.
He disclosed that the government will own a modern, secure building for the courts and judiciary when the twenty-year lease ends.
NH International is the contractor.
Pierre disclosed that NH’s confidence in the Saint Lucia economy had caused the company to invest $143 million in the building without any taxpayer guarantee in the Build Own and Lease Transfer (BOLT) agreement.
The PM said the agreement sets out timelines for complete design, approval, and completion with suitable arrangements for any possible delay.
SLP crooks take note
Saw the design for the Halls of Justice and I must say, it is an ugly design not in keeping with making Castries a more aesthetically beautiful city. Sometimes I wonder what goes in in the minds of those in authority. Why is the building just a rectangle without any character whatsoever…. Now while I welcome the new edifice, more imagination should have gone into building something that would elevate the city…. perhaps the only things that is of any interest in the building is the bridge between the civil and criminal court. If we are building, build something that will last for centuries, something that will beautify the city, something that adds to Castries new lease of life…..this Halls of Justice looks like a coffin in glass. Just goes to show how limited in thinking these ministers and their advisors are…pure mediocrity….
On another note… Pierre makes it appear that the $143 million dollars invested by NH International is for free…..it is clearly not …but is the $143 million US dollars or EC dollars? They did not say or specify but this makes a big difference…in any case…the tax payer will be paying more in return during the 20 year lease to NH international…so Pierre ain’t fooling me to make me believe the tax payer is not underwriting this lease…we don’t know all the details about the contractual arrangements between the government and NH International…it’s simple…NH international takes a loan on relativity low interest rates form a foreign bank and builds the Halls of Justice….Saint Lucia tax payers pays 2 to 4 times ( if not more) the interest rates taken from a foreign Bank by NH International for 20 years… Over time Saint Lucian tax payer ends up paying both the loan plus giving vast profits to NH international…I would have liked to see the details of this agreement….
BOLT agreement. Interesting. Why are we adding infrastructure that doesn’t boost our economy in our already cramped City. All them judges will now want RESERVE PARKING on the streets and we the persons who want park and purchase goods in Castries will not hv any space to park. The jail is already at Bordelaise why not put this in Cul de Sac. Why add traffic to our City. The SLP HACKS who are lawyers want to hv things their way with no regard for any one else. A City should Administartive, Commercial or Historic. Ours has a terrible mix. RIDICULOUS. Dem men making Compton look like the ONLY GENIUS AND FORWARD THINKING PM WE EVER HAD
This is great news. Plus I saw all the town and country planners so we must have considered the need to transport /house dangerous criminals in the city center as well as the pedestrian Boulevard with banks and other essential services needing access. Also please ensure that climate risk has been considered.
Ok someone please enlightened me about this new project I think it a good idea however it reminds me of the Hewanora Project if you know what I mean 🤷
Laughable, disappointed, and dam right ridiculous that our so-called leaders lack basic vision and fore sight.
Why oh why are we restricting the elevation of our city. This is only because of politics that SLP refused to rise above and put country first. Why have they refused to used the initial proposed vacant lot of the old prison and former police head quarters. Which offers ideal security, adequate space for current and future expansion into the future.
I urge the government to reconsider this proposal and follow Sir John Comptons Castries development plan of 2006.
Another one of the petty political moves by a divisive politician and Prime Minister. The old police headquarters building, the old Royal Jail and other buildings were demolished and there was a sod turning ceremony and an approved plan for Halls of Justice containing the same things that this one will have and more. Why couldn’t that proposal continue since it is a more ideal location for such a project. The plan for this area in Castries was to have a park which would have added to the aesthetic of the city. Politicians must realize that when an idea is good and better than their own backward idea, it is alright to implement it and they will still take the credit because it was done under their watch. Mr PM you will have another St Jude’s fiasco on your hand. Maybe Musa should tell us the latest about St Jude’s. When in opposition they wanted to tour I every month. It’s almost a year since the Saudi loan and no tour, no updates. Will the REAL PM, Mr Gahjadah please tell us about your report on your findings and proposals to Pip on the St Jude’s reconstruction.
All those plans done by experts…all those studies for Castries and you all are doing the opposite…the reverse of them all. How is this building going to rejuvenate the city? How? The city needs less 8_430pm operations and more family style nightlife. I just waiting for voyager to open a brothel right next to this thing.
BOYBLUE – You certainly spoke a million good ideas there; the old Police head quarters over the bridge on the South side of Bridge St. and the Lot of the Old Prison where there’s more than enough room for parking. Why dig for more or higher buildings in down town Castries? whose idea was it, was it for jobs in Central Castries since the Castries River separates the two Constituencies – Central & South – go figure; maybe De Papa’s idea was too UWP just like the MODERN HOSPITAL in the South. By the way the CDC learned that it was a mistake to build 4 Storey Structures in Central Castries since Castries was built mainly on reclaimed grounds; ASK THE MIN. OF PLANNING.
May the good LORD guide & Bless St. Lucia in the straight and narrow way.
Lol..copy the Halls if Justice idea from Chas but placing it in the middle of the City instead of slightly on the outskirts as originally proposed. Can you imagine the chaos that will be in town on days where there is Court!
Imagine the PM spoke so much of this as a secure facility due to the number of courts, magistrates, judges etc in there……I WANT TO SEE THE LOGISTICS WHEN THERE IS A “BIG” FUNERAL AT THE SAME TIME OF A “BIG” COURT CASE WITH A “BIG” CRUISE SHIP IN TONG!!! This was not -a-too-bright idea for a location for such a sensitive building to say the least! in the voice of Redd Roxx – ” you dummies”!!
say flambeau ahwage say flambeau ah uh rara lol lol too funny
UWPs out in force. 😂😂. Infrastructure getting done, construction getting done, hospital getting done, new jobs beging created, unemployment rate lowest ever, etc,etc. who wouldn’t want to see all these developments? You guessed it… Chas and his cronies. Well Chas, congratulations.